Almost one-third of NT children in care allegedly harmed, report finds

Almost one-third of NT children in care allegedly harmed in 2024-25, report finds Tue 2 Jun 2026 at 4:42pm In short: A new report from the Office of the Children's Commissioner has found almost one-third of children in out-of-home care in the NT were allegedly harmed last financial year. The Monitoring Harm in Care Report has been criticised by the NT's child protection minister, who questioned the data's validity. The report comes after the NT government introduced new child protection legislation into parliament last month, which critics say risks weakening Aboriginal kinship care. Nearly one in three children in out-of-home care in the Northern Territory were allegedly harmed last financial year, a new report has found. The Monitoring Harm in Care Report was released by the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) on Tuesday, examining alleged and substantiated harm against children in out-of-home care over the past two financial years. Its findings have subsequently been attacked by Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill amid a fierce debate about the NT's child protection system. The report includes data sets from both the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the OCC, with the OCC noting it was unable to obtain DCF data "of the integrity, completeness or year‑on‑year comparability required for confident statistical reporting". It said the OCC data used was "manually collated from individual case files" and "independently verified by the OCC". DCF data referred to in the report shows 292 individual children — 29 per cent of all children in care in the NT — were the subject of at least one alleged harm notification in 2024-25, more than double than in the previous reporting year. Of those 292 children, 243 were the subject of multiple notifications. In the same reporting year, compared with other jurisdictions, the report also found the NT had the highest proportion of children who had experienced substantiated harm while in care, at 6.1 per cent. More than half of those children were harmed by the person responsible for their care. In the report, the OCC notes that an unsubstantiated allegation "is not equivalent to no harm having occurred". "Child protection substantiation requires reasonable cause to believe harm has occurred (or is likely) — a standard which … is frequently defeated by the very factors that make children in care vulnerable: instability of placement, fragmented caseworker contact, isolation from family and friends, and the inability of very young or non‑verbal children to disclose," the report reads. "A rising rate of alleged harm is, on its own, an indicator that something has changed in the care environment, the visibility of harm, or both; neither possibility is benign." The report identifies "persistent and serious systemic failings" in the DCF's response to harm experienced by children in care. It also reveals "near-universal non-compliance" by the DCF with its own time frames for commencing and completing harm-in-care investigations, meaning children remained in unsafe placements for extended periods. Between 2023 and 2025, only one of the 75 substantiated harm-in-care investigations reviewed by the OCC was completed within the required 42-day period. Just one of 10 priority one investigations — the most urgent — was commenced within the required 24 hours. In its response to the report, the DCF said it was "deeply committed to doing everything within our power to keep children and young people safe". "When harm occurs, we must confront it honestly, learn from it, and act decisively to prevent it from happening again," the response reads. "We are considering options to strengthen and align our approach to out-of-home care reform, including the development of a clearer roadmap for system change. "This work is intended to inform future decisions about sequencing, workforce implications, alternative care models and risk management to support safe and stable outcomes for children and young people." Child Protection Minister Robyn Cahill was questioned about the report on ABC Radio Alice Springs on Tuesday, and criticised how NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk had reached her findings. She claimed the report "was only constructed over the last couple of weeks", saying it "very much appears to be directed at not liking what is actually happening in the child protection space from a government point of view". "She's drawn data from two separate sources, so there's likely duplication," Ms Cahill said. "She hasn't validated the data, so she can't say if it's correct or not because she hasn't taken the time to actually validate the data." Report published amid inquiry into bill Last month, the NT government introduced child protection legislation to parliament, which it says will put "safety above all considerations". Critics have said the bill would weaken the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, with the chief executive of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency claiming it could cause "generations of harm". The Monitoring Harm in Care Report says current implementation of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle is "limited and inconsistent". "The full implementation of the Child Placement Principle has not reached the level of active efforts seen elsewhere, nor are active efforts explicitly enshrined in legislation, limiting operational effectiveness," the report reads. "Children placed away from family, culture, and community were frequently exposed to culturally unsafe care, with inadequate safeguards to protect connection, identity, and emotional wellbeing." The report sets out seven tiers of recommendations, including phasing out purchased home-based care — where the NT government pays for a private or commercial provider to care for a child. Purchased home-based care was where most substantiated harm cases occurred between 2023 and 2025. That model of care was meant to be phased out by 2021, but the report says the OCC "continues to see year on year increases in the number of children in PHBC placements".